I will, at some stage, be adding a couple of sayings to my quotations and sayings page. Both are, to some extent, dealing with the extent that nonBPM (i.e., unbalanced) influences have seeped into and now dominate the upper echelons of business. The "the deliberate, well-funded, long-term strategy (from about the 70s) to make self-interest seem normal and a commitment to fairness (such as former US President Franklin D Roosevelt’s Four Freedoms) an aberration" that I refer to in my news posts was a key step in this process of moving towards evil, and my experiences with one former manager from the 80s in particular is what led to this first saying:
Beware the leader who pushes a "kindly father" image - the harder the push, the more likely they are covering evil.The next saying comes out of decades of having managers try to find ways to "do more" (i.e., get more profit for the company) "with less" (i.e., pay workers less and/or get workers to do more unpaid overtime [one manager even tried to call this "donated" time!]).
Not only is relabelling a vice, such as being understaffed, as if it were a virtue (e.g., "lean") NOT good management, it is the sort of worker abuse that is best described as evil.I've written about the impact of such external influences on worker stress recently (Post No. 1,151 - The Struggle to Survive), but I also want to acknowledge the internal causes of stress - most commonly, in my experience (of talking to and observing others [particularly in industry and professional organisations], as well as my lived experience), wanting to do a good job, but having to cut back because "going that little bit extra" is not covered in the contract, and thus not allowed as it is supposed to be reserved for a future contract with the client (I want to stress that I am referring to generic issues and trends observed over five decades of working: the current issues in my day job are different).
There can also be such problems as a result of things like work-life balance (and anyone who has problems with that term is, in my opinion, a moron), dissatisfying (i.e., boring) work (and automation is not a solution, as it just chucks bored, low skill people onto the bored, unemployed pile), constricted/static/unchanging (as the field I work in was in the 80s) work, etc.
This sort of issue is mostly reasonably well-known and acknowledged, but not the former set of issues.
There can also be an unholy confluence of internal and external factors, and I think the recent Australian cricket team cheating incident (see also here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and see also this broader perspective on the matter) shows this, with regard to the interview with the former team captain, who broke down in a news conference (staggeringly, some dinosaurs I know criticised him for what they saw as a weakness: that criticism shows, in my opinion, how scarred those people have been by things such as toxic male stereotypes and undue pressure in the workplace generally and - over the last three decades or so - in families on sole breadwinners).
Where are the solutions? Internal (personal growth, etc), and external - particularly a return to decency and respect for workers.
